The ONC released a health IT strategic plan this week that focuses on the next five years.
The US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) issued its Federal Health IT Strategic Plan for 2015-2020. The agency is accepting public comment through Feb. 6.
The draft focuses on interoperability, and how health organizations can collect, share and then use data to improve the care process across the nation.
“The 2015 Strategic Plan provides the federal government a strategy to move beyond health care to improve health, use health IT beyond EHRs, and use policy and incentive levers beyond the incentive programs,” Karen DeSalvo, M.D., national coordinator for health IT and acting assistant secretary for health, said in a statement. “The success of this plan is also dependent upon insights from public and private stakeholders and we encourage their comments.”
The plan is divided into five goals:
- Expand Adoption of Health IT
- Advance Secure and Interoperable Health Information
- Strengthen Health Care Delivery
- Advance the Health and Well-Being of Individuals and Communities
- Advance Research, Scientific Knowledge, and Innovation
From there, the goals are broken down into objectives, each one with a three-year timeframe and six-year timeframe to achieve the different aspects of the goal.
“The first two goals of this Plan prioritize increasing the electronic collection and sharing of health information while protecting individual privacy,” DeSalvo wrote in the report. “The final three goals focus on federal efforts to create an environment where interoperable information is used by healthcare providers, public health entities, researchers, and individuals to improve health, healthcare, and reduce costs.”
The draft also discussed the ONC’s Nationwide Interoperability Roadmap, which is designed to improve the use of interoperable health information. Proper implementation of the Roadmap will be necessary to advance the five-year Plan, according to the report.
The ONC collaborated with more than 35 federal agencies, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), to create the draft. All federal partners will then the Plan after it has been finalized and review progress for each goal. This will include identifying milestones, measurement and reporting tools, and risk mitigation.
“Furthermore, continued outreach to stakeholders for all the federal partners involved in the Plan’s development and implementation will allow the Plan to evolve as the health IT marketplace matures, subsequently requiring new or modified approaches to policies and federal activities,” the report explained.
The ONC has been working to improve not only health IT programs, but healthcare privacy and security as a whole. Earlier this year the agency released an outline of its new whitepaper describing its 10-year vision for advancing health IT capabilities and work toward an interoperable health IT infrastructure.
In the same white paper, the ONC also explained that it is going to support greater transparency and responsibility for individuals when it comes to entities that use their data. In particular, those that are not covered by Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) and the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules will see greater transparency.
The post Federal Health IT Strategic Plan Focuses on Interoperability appeared first on HealthITSecurity.com.